A 50-acre compound on the idyllic shores of Greenwich listed for $190 million -- currently the most expensive property for sale in the U.S. -- is carrying at least $124 million in mortgage debt and averted foreclosure, property records and court filings show.

"For all intents and purposes, it's America's largest short sale," said Frank Farricker, a residential and commercial real estate broker based in Greenwich.

Designated as one of the "Great Estates" of Greenwich by local preservationists, Copper Beech Farm, as the property is known and registered as a Wyoming corporation -- presumably for tax purposes -- hit the market in May to international fanfare.

It boasts a pair of private islands, a 19th century French Victorian mansion with 12 bedrooms and a grass tennis court. There is a carriage house with a clock tower, co-joined heptagonal pools, a greenhouse and wine cellar.

But in March 2011, having loaned $59 million to Copper Beech Farm Inc., bailout recipient Bank of America filed a notice of lis pendens with the U.S. District Court of Connecticut for its plans to foreclose on the trophy property.

"There is a lot of debt on that property," said Carmella Budkins, the town clerk of Greenwich.

The foreclosure action coincided with a civil lawsuit Rudey filed in the Eastern District of Washington State in Yakima accusing the banking giant of predatory lending practices.

Records show that Bank of America withdrew its lis pendens notice in December of 2012, however.

No one answered the phone at Rudey's Greenwich estate Monday and a telephone listing for Rudey in Manhattan was not in service.

Messages seeking comment from Ogilvy were left Monday at his home and with his assistant by Hearst Connecticut Newspapers.

Ogilvy's firm just this month released photographs of the interior of the historic homestead, which still features pre-electricity-era speaking tubes.

Records show M&T Bank holds a pair of mortgages for $40 million and $25 million on the property, which is located at 499 Indian Field Road on a promontory of land known as Mead Point.

In August 2006, Inland Fiber Group, a timber company in which Rudey was principal and that owned land in Oregon, filed for bankruptcy. Until last year, Rudey had cross-collateralized his Copper Beach Farm estate with 50,000 acres of forestland he owned in Kittitas County in Washington state, where his timber business ran into environmental red tape.

"The owners are very quiet people," Ogilvy said of his clients in a May interview with Hearst Connecticut Newspapers.

In an ironic twist, 45 of the Greenwich compound's 50 acres are assessed as forestland by the town, which gives tax discounts for open space. The property's assessment is $15 million, which is 70 percent of its $21.3 million full-market value. Without the discount, the property would be assessed at $59.2 million, putting its full-market value at $84.6 million.

Real industry sources are skeptical that the property will command the asking price of $190 million, citing previous sales of Great Estates.

In 2010, the Round Hill Road manor of the late hotelier Leona Helmsley sold at a steep discount from its original 2008 asking price of $125 million. The 28-room Dunnellen Hall mansion sold for $35 million and relisted for $42.9 million in 2011, only to be delisted six months later.

Ogilvy was the listing agent for an 80-acre estate in Conyers Farm with a main house, four guest houses, a 22-stall horse stable and servants' quarters that hit the market at $53 million. It eventually sold for $45 million.

Mel Gibson sold his Old Mill Farm estate for $24 million in 2010, well off the $39.5 million original asking price from 2007.

Greenwich taxpayers have a vested interest in the sale of the property, which could generate close to $500,000 in conveyance tax revenue for the town.

The buzz in the real estate community is that many brokers were reluctant to list the property because of the outstanding mortgage debt.

"A short sale is the hardest thing you can do. It's illogical," Farricker said. "You're a third-party broker engaging in a debt negotiation for a client."

Farricker wonders if the owner will be able to dig out of this money pit.

"So the idea they would have to negotiate is going to scare away every last buyer of substance, unless they have love for the property," Farricker said.